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Scottish Art - Paintings of Scotland:
Mount Morven and Coull Castle

by D. Bruce Bennett

Mount Morven Overlooking Coull Castle

Let's be clear about this. Coull Castle, while alive and well in the 12th and 13th centuries, is just a few weed-covered bits and bobs of stone walls in a field today. But were it still intact, it would stand exactly where Bruce has placed it in this picture of Scotland - in Aberdeenshire, overlooked by timeless Mount Morven, to the west.

(Click for larger view of Mount Morven and Coull Castle.)

We know because the current laird's daughter-in-law was gracious enough to point out Coull Castle ruins and give us permission to explore. We took some shots and then marched down the hill and across the fields. Crawling all over Coull's ruins, we hoped to unearth . . . well, we don't know what. Hoping a bit of Scottish history would infuse itself into our psyches?

This area of Aberdeenshire was Queen Victoria's stomping grounds. "Morven" is Gaelic for "great mountain," though this particular namesake is not quite 3,000 feet. Queen Vickie pronounced the views from Mount Morven, which would've looked east to our vantage point, "more magnificent than can be described." (Mount Morven is the slight blue-gray hill-mount in the left third of the background.)

Bruce has chosen modern-day tractor trails to lead your eye to purely imaginary, phoenix-like Coull Castle (in the right third of the painting) and then decided to add a few storm clouds for good measure. He's quite thoughtlessly deleted our kind guide's Coull Cottage. It should stand in the left third but since it would've post-dated Coull Castle by several centuries, he's omitted it. However, he kept the fence rows and fields much as they are today. Go figure.

This picture of Scotland is an unlikely juxtaposition of 12th and 21st centuries combined in a very slender horizontal painting, perfect for above the mantel, over the hall table, just above the couch. . . – you get the picture. But you can't buy THIS exact picture, since its owner is unlikely to part with it. But you could commission one like it – this view that Queen Vickie raved about – and ask Bruce for as much tweaking as you like.

Mount Morven Overlooking Coull Castle
Picture of Scotland
Medium: acrylic on 300#, cold-pressed watercolor paper
Image Dimensions: 30" w. x 10" h.
Mat: none
Glass: none
Frame: none

(This painting of Morven and Coull Castle SOLD in January 2009,
but you could commission a very similar piece of Scottish Art.)

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